- During the 20th century, the human population has almost quadrupled its numbers.
- Paired nitrogen atoms make up 78% of the atmosphere, but to stable them to transform easily into a reactive form that plants can take up.
- Nitrogen “fixation”, splitting of paired nitrogen molecules and the following incorporation of the element into the chemically reactive compound ammonia, can be done with one bacteria
- Rhizobium, is the most important nitrogen fixing bacteria, symbionts that create nodules on the roots of leguminous plants, like beans or acacia trees
- Traditional farmers replaced the nitrogen lost by enriching their fields with crop residues or with animal and human waste.
- The combination of recycling human and animal wastes along with planting green manures can, provide annually up to around 200 kilograms of nitrogen per hectare of arable land.
- The other two key nutrients, potassium and phosphorus, were restraining the agricultural yields much less frequently and shortages of it is much easier to amend it.
- In 1899 at Basf, Germany, Carl Bosch invented an ammonia synthesis. He formulated a workable scheme to incorporate ammonia from nitrogen and hydrogen
- Bosch created a greatest design problem, the deterioration of the interior of the steel reaction chamber.
- As the nitrogen fertilizer that escapes to the bodies of water often causes eutrophication, resulting depletion of oxygen in the bodies of water.
- The Haber-Bosch synthesis of ammonia, causes the humanity to developed a profound chemical dependence
As the global population is increasing, the usage of nitrogen is increasing as well by using nitrogen fertilizers. The usage of nitrogen fertilizers are being used by traditional farmers to grow more crops to feed billions of people. Even if the countries are developing or developed and high or low income countries, the farmers still used nitrogen fertilizers. Nitrogen fertilizers causes the loss of nitrogen in the soil so they used more fertilizers in the soil. The synthesis of ammonia created by Haber-Bosch developed the humanity to a new complex chemical dependence. All the nitrogen from the soil was washed away into the bodies of water creating an eutrophication, and many problems that harm the environments.
After reading, I always think that using fertilizers can be helpful because it can grow more crops than usual but there is a problem behind it. But its not, I never really think that over usage of fertilizers can create an environmental problem. Global population is increasing so the farmers is just doing their job to make more crops just to feed billions of people, so they use fertilizers. We should control our population so that the usage of fertilizers can decrease, and many more environmental problems
After reading, I always think that using fertilizers can be helpful because it can grow more crops than usual but there is a problem behind it. But its not, I never really think that over usage of fertilizers can create an environmental problem. Global population is increasing so the farmers is just doing their job to make more crops just to feed billions of people, so they use fertilizers. We should control our population so that the usage of fertilizers can decrease, and many more environmental problems